Unified Communications

Alcatel-Lucent announced the availability of its “smart deskphone” on a range of communications platforms. The Alcatel-Lucent OmniTouch 8082 My IC phone will be available on the Alcatel-Lucent OpenTouch suite of communications platforms, as well as the leading Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX Enterprise platform. www.alcatel-lucent.com

Archiving and Compliance

Symantec is delivering new recovery updates and platform support to Symantec System Recovery 2011, formerly Backup Exec System Recovery, for both physical and virtual environments. New features include all-in-one backup and recovery USB device, enhanced centralized management, enhanced customizable recovery disk wizard, and larger platform support. www.symantec.com

Social Networking

Novell announced the general availability of Novell Vibe Cloud, a secure, real-time, web-based social collaboration platform for the enterprise. Novell Vibe Cloud is offered as an online service and comes in two editions – basic, with all the functionality needed to demonstrate proof-of-value, and enterprise, which offers additional security features, management controls and premium support. www.novell.com

Twitter has improved its search feature for finding accounts and activity. Users can expect context-related results and will be assisted by general tips that can also help the user search. www.twitter.com

Wireless

Novell announced the availability of Mono for Android, the first solution for developing Microsoft .NET applications for the Android platform using Microsoft Visual Studio. www.novell.com

Miscellaneous

Oracle announced the release of Oracle Enterprise Gateway 11g. Oracle Enterprise Gateway, a key component of Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g, secures, accelerates, integrates and routes XML, Web Services and other types of data in a simple, easy-to-use manner to help significantly lower integration costs and reduce deployment risks. www.oracle.com

CenturyLink, Inc. and Qwest Communications completed their merger, creating the nation’s third largest telecommunications company in the United States. www.centurylink.com